Well, it probably could be better termed as “Office of Research”, though I’m sure DOE leadership explicitly rejected that name as sounding way too academic and hence divorced from the commercial marketplace (i.e., private sector).

It’s true that the DOE Office of Science, the largest sponsor of basic research in the physical sciences in the U.S., is oriented to the needs of universities and research centers. Notably, the Office of Science recently created 46 Energy Research Frontier Centers (ERFCs) spanning the U.S. to address some highly-specialized technical fields of relevance to energy requiring world-class capabilities.

While it’s true that this work is largely conducted by the ivory-tower, these ERFCs represent a very compelling resource for cleantech companies – large and small alike – facing particular technical challenges in developing new products and services for the energy sector. When tackling especially thorny problems, it may be worth running the risk of getting blinded by science and peering into the bright shining light of a possibly-relevant EFRC.

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